Author : Fyodor Dostoyevsky
What is it about : Set in the days of pre-1900s in St. Petersburg, one middle ranking government clerk found himself one day, coming face to face, living with, working along side as well as partying with an exact replica of himself; same name and same looks, only that our "Junior" turned out to be in character the exact opposite - smart, commanding, confident, witty, sociable and well-liked. The book centered on our "Senior" trying to work out what was going on - how come nobody was surprised, how could everyone take it so nonchalantly and what exactly was "Junior" up to ? Or was "Senior" going slightly mad where all he saw before him, were hallucinations ?
Some thoughts after having read the book : Man ! I would tell ya, reading 160 odd pages of a man's life turned up-side-down and trying to figure out "in his mind" what was going on, was not an easy feat ! I appreciated very very much the excellent translation from Russian, done on the original script, but I found as a result, the reading was made that much more cumbersome and tiring. The setting of the scene in St.Petersburg was difficult for a non-European reader who had not been well-versed in the intricacies of horse riding, man-servant, Russian government inner workings and the way a ball or party was thrown in those days. I persevered till the bitter end of the book and still could not make heads or tails !
Would I recommend this book to you : I checked out reviews performed by other readers and the comments ranged from "...A work of art...", "...Students of literature, admirers of Dostoyevsky, and general readers will all be delighted..." to "...utterly unreadable..." ! Well, take your pick and think hard if you really have not better things to do.
